Wano language

Wano is a Papuan language of the Indonesian province of Central Papua.

Wano
RegionCentral Papua
EthnicityWano
Native speakers
1,000 (2011)[1]
Trans–New Guinea
  • West Trans–New Guinea (Irian Highlands)
    • Dani
      • Wano
Language codes
ISO 639-3wno
Glottologwano1243
ELPWano

Phonology
Consonant phonemes[2]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive p b t d k ʔ
Fricative β
Approximant j w
Vowel phonemes[2]
Front Back
High i u
Mid ɛ ɔ
Close a

As well as the monophthongs described above, Wano also has seven diphthongs: /i̯a/, /ɛi̯/, /ai̯/, /au̯/, /ɔi̯/, /ɔu̯/, and /ui̯/.[2]

Allophony
  • The voiced plosives /b/ and /d/ are imploded to /ɓ/ and /ɗ/ when word-initially and intervocalically.[2]
  • When a nasal occurs before /p/, /p/ becomes a prenasalized voiced plosive [ᵐb]. Similarly, when a nasal occurs before /t/ or /k/, they become, respectively, [ⁿd] and [ᵑɡ].[2]
  • /p/, /k/, /ɡ/, and /ɡ/'s allophone, [ᵑɡ] become labialized before /w/, with /ɡ/ becoming [ɣʷ].[2]
  • The sequences /tj/ and /dj/ become the palatal fricatives /ç ʝ/.[2] However, this analysis more signifies the corresponding Dutch digraphs, since these have no morphological significance, and in the modern orthography these are written as ⟨c⟩ and ⟨j⟩.

Grammar

Nouns

Inalienable nouns could be pluralized by suffixing -i (after consonants) or -vi (after vowels), while alienable nouns do not (similar to Indonesian, where pluralization is optional).[3] The inalienable plurals can be postposed with numerals (aburi kena "her two children").

See also
  • Duvle-Wano Pidgin

References
  1. Wano at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Burung, Willem (2007). The Phonology of Wano (PDF). SIL International.
  3. Burung, Willem (2016). A grammar of Wano (PhD thesis). University of Oxford.


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